Rough Roads is a simple game for iOS devices that takes the concept of the classic Frogger video game and flips it. Instead of crossing the street while avoiding obstacles, you are driving down the street. The idea is to keep all the luggage on top of your vehicle while collecting stars and badges.

Note: Click the images in this review to see a larger view.

Game play is very easy. There are two touch areas on the screen. On side steers you left and the other steers right. Your Volkswagen Van stays at the bottom of the screen and can only move horizontally. The outlines for the touch controls disappear once the game starts, which can a problem when your thumbs drift out of the areas and no longer control movement.

You don’t have control over speed or braking. Once the game begins, your only task is to move back and forth avoiding other vehicles, people, and objects in your path. If you hit an object, one of your 5 suitcases will fall off the top of your van. Lose all 5 and the game is over.

The only objects you don’t want to avoid are the yellow stars, which give you points. You can also collect running man badges (not pictured), which will transport you to one of 6 cities or countries.

These badges also earn you points that can unlock fun facts about the cities.

The fun facts are supposed to get you interested in the various cities so that you’ll purchase Rough Guides for those cities at $2.99 a pop.

Rough Roads isn’t the most exciting or dynamic game in the App store, but it’s easy to play, has fun graphics and an enjoyable soundtrack. That said, it does get a bit boring after a very short time since there isn’t much strategy or a real end goal other than collecting points and learning fun facts. I think this game would be perfectly fine as a free app, but I wouldn’t spend my own 99 cents to purchase it…

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related, Reviews

Tagged: App, game, iOS

Rough Roads iOS Game Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 8, 2011 at 5:17 pm.

I am not a gamer at all. If I spend more than 10 minutes playing anything….its too much time wasted . But on those rare occasions that I do feel like passing a bit of (non-productive) time, I typically play Words With Friends with my peeps. That said, my father was a C-130 pilot in the Air Force way back in the day, so when I saw Zombie Gunship it peeked my interest to splurge and spend the buck to give it a try.

The premise behind Zombie Gunship is that you are in the gunner seat of a heavily-armed AC-130 ground attack aircraft. You surgically fire its powerful guns/cannons to ‘slay endless waves of zombies and protect the remaining survivors of the zombie apocalypse!’ Keeping the zombies from reaching/entering the last surviving stronghold of mankind and assisting human survivors to make it to safety.

The dark figures are the zombies and the illuminated ones are the humans you are suppose to protect (aka not kill or allow them to be killed by zombies). If you accidentally kill three humans in your zombie slaughtering the round is over.

The AC-130 gunship has some pretty cool weapons:

• 25mm Gatling gun
• 40mm Bofors auto-cannon
• 105mm Howitzer cannon

My favorite weapon is definitely the 105mm howitzer cannon. Its blast/shock wave and kill radius are impressive; as are the zombie body pieces flying about. The ’3D night vision display with motion blur’ graphics are very nice and make game play even more fun.

As you assist humans into the stronghold and kill zombies, you earn gold coins. The money you earn enables you to fund weapon upgrades to more effectively slaughter zombies thru faster fire, greater blast radius, quicker reloads, etc. Bottom line, the better your weapons, the more fun you have.

Zombie Gunship is a universal app for both the iPhone/Touch and the iPad as well.  It is definitely worth $0.99 and is a great way to waste a bit of time especially if you enjoy killing zombies (and who doesn’t ).

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related, Reviews

Tagged: game, iOS

Limbic Zombie Gunship iOS Game Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 16, 2011 at 1:00 pm.

I generally use my Smartphone for non-game activities, but I like to keep an assortment of good games around- backgammon, mah jong, solitaire, and so on. One of my old Palm favorites was a Pop Cap game called Bejeweled. I played it and some clones (mostly a nice version called JewelLust) but the game play was getting old.

Then, Amazon’s amazing ‘Free App a Day’ offered one called Chuzzles that I had never heard of. I downloaded it and ignored it for a while. Then I downloaded it… and wow!

There is a backstory and cute comments about Chuzzles, but this is basically a grouping game. Slide rows or columns around to line up three or more Chuzzles in a line or a shape (L, square, or other irregular cluster connected horizontally or vertically), and they pop out of sheer joy. Like Bejeweled, etc., they refill from the top. Unlike Bejeweled, etc., the rows and columns wrap- that is, if you move a Chuzzle off the side, it shows up on the other side- a significant strategic value.

Desktop version screen capture

The Android version shows the active playing field shown above with the blue bottle thing off-screen. In this screen, I can capture the red Chuzzles in the upper left by sliding the top row to the left one step and making a column of three, or by sliding the 3rd column down one step to make an L-shape, or, more sneakily, slide the 3rd column down two steps to make a square and catch 4 at once! Then the dark blue in the top row can slide down to the other two dark blues, and I’ll have some whites I can probably catch after that…

The screen also shows a couple other game quirks- huge Chuzzles (like the yellow one) that force you to move two columns or rows at a time, and handcuffed Chuzzles (the red one under the big yellow one) that lock both the row and column they are in. You can also see the big yellow one developing a halo that indicates it is about to pop and take the two yellows above it with it.

(Another game quirk- the large chuzzle is regular sized, the others are Giant Chuzzles. Read the pre-game tip screens to figure this one out!)

You earn points and cool little badges, and the games go pretty quick. There is enough difference here that mastery of Bejeweled will help, but not a ton- my daughter beats my high scores routinely, dang her! Besides the main game, there are other variations like a pattern matching version, a Zen game that seems to never end, and so on but the main game is my key interest!

It is a bit of a resource hog and only downloads over wifi, and the in-between screens are almost sickeningly candy-like but it is fun, fast, and engaging. Oddly enough, not available on the Google Android Market, but $2.99 at Amazon.

Filed in categories: Android related, Reviews

Tagged: Android, Bejeweled, game, Pop Cap

My Android Apps: Chuzzles originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 5, 2011 at 3:30 pm.

Nathan Drake is back for his greatest adventure ever. After a lot of peril and pain in Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Drake actually succeeded in getting rich. But now he is back for some more action in the Sony PS3 title Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. When the game starts we find Drake relaxing at a beach side resort, an old friend by the name of Harry Flynn approaches Drake with a proposition to go to Istanbul, Turkey and rob a museum of a valuable artifact. And so begins Drakes latest adventure which has achieved some of the highest ratings including Game of the year.

The game starts off with Drake hanging off a snowy mountaintop by a train. You make your way up this maze-like train to get to the top of the mountain and the game takes off from there. You find yourself in multiple environments. From snowy hillsides, to museums in Turkey, to a civil war ridden city; you’ll always see something new. And the puzzles and mazes are abundant. Thankfully you have Drake’s trusty journal to help you through these puzzles.

For instance, a lot of the puzzles require you to match a real thing in the game to a picture in Drake’s journal, and that would open a door. Some of them require you to navigate around the environment, making impossible jumps to the top, and aiming a beam of light into a mirror to open a door. But, no matter what kind of puzzle you are faced with, they’re all fairly challenging and will keep you guessing for a way to solve them.

The game isn’t too terribly hard. Although I only played it on easy so I could pay attention to the story, I did go back through and try to beat it on hard. The gunfights get a little more challenging, but all it takes to get through it is some strategy and planning ahead. And for beating it on an even higher difficulty, you can unlock Crushing difficulty, which should add even more strategy and planning to the game.

The game is full of love, deceit, treachery, and more twists than you can count on one hand. After being betrayed by a friend, you find yourself racing an evil tyrant to Marco Polo’s treasure, which turns out to be bigger than they could have ever imagined. Like being immortal big.

The controls are generally the same as the last game. L1 to aim, R1 to shoot, L2 will be your grenade button. X will allow you to jump, O will put you behind cover, [square] will be your melee attacks, pressing L3 will switch aim sides, R3 will be zooming in if you have a scope, and the arrows will be how you can choose a gun. Picking up guns will be [triangle].

The games’ in-game achievements give a little more depth to the campaign. For completing certain things in the campaign (usually the same as a trophy) you get money, which you can spend on skins, cheats, guns, and a lot of really cool things to make your in-game experience better. This also adds replay value to the game. Going back through and earning the trophies and in-game achievements is always fun. And now you actually get rewarded for it in the form of game currencies which can be used to buy upgrades for the game itself.

The graphics are mind blowing. They’re top of the line for video games. And, they stay flawless in multiple environments. Whether Drake is covered in snow, or soaking wet, the game still looks flawless. The music in the game is interesting as well. Depending on the environment, the music will change. If you are trying to solve a puzzle within an ancient temple, you’ll get a nice mysterious background sound to go along with it.

Sounds in this game go a long way. Especially with surround sound. It almost felt like I was Drake. You’ll hear muffled sounds, warning yells, and enemies yelling from behind you. You’ll generally know where the enemy is and you won’t be snuck up on.

The multiplayer option which supports 1-10 players looks like it would be great, but we never got a chance to check it out. I was faced with an “Error syncing models” problem that wasn’t allowing me to connect to the servers. But, from videos that I’ve seen on Youtube, it looks like it plays very well.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a must have third person action adventure shooter which provides improved graphics over the previous version.

Filed in categories: Gaming Gear, Reviews

Tagged: game, PSP

Sony PS3 Game – Uncharted 2 Among Thieves Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 19, 2011 at 12:02 pm.

Today we’re going to take a quick look at Edge from Mobigame. This is a puzzle game with arcade elements. It requires good timing and quick reflexes in addition to regular puzzle solving skills.

Edge is a puzzle game with 46 levels and 18 different background tunes. 46 levels might not sound like a lot, but this game isn’t exactly easy. I’m STILL (as of right this minute), stuck on level 7.

The idea of the game is to push your cube around a geometric universe. As you do, you can run over smaller cubes for points and eventually find the teleport pad to the next level. That all sounds easy right? It is at first… But then moving elements are introduced that can cause all sorts of frustrations But that’s the whole point of a puzzle game, finding a solution to frustrating elements.

You can control the movement of your cube in one of 3 ways. You can use an on screen 4-way controller, use your finger to move the cube around, or use the accelerometer. I tried all three ways and ended up choosing the 4-way controller because for me, it seems to allow more precise movements and my finger doesn’t get in the way of what I need to see as I move. This game would REALLY benefit from a real physical joystick though because it does take practice to navigate the cube along narrow platforms.

The game can be played in portrait or landscape mode. A map in the upper corner helps you see where the next level teleport is located.

Edge from Mobigame is fun to play. It’s easy to learn, but very challenging to master. See ya, I have to go try to beat level 7. Those darn sliding blocks are driving me crazy!

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related, Reviews

Tagged: game, iPad

App Spotlight – Mobigame Edge iPad Puzzle Game originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 11, 2010 at 11:52 am.

Today we’re going to take a look at two games for the iPad. KL Dartboard and Drift Mania Championship. KL Dartboard is pretty unique because it requires that you play with both an iPad and an iPhone or iPod touch. Drift Mania Championship is a racing game that will sliding… into walls. Ok, that’s probably just me.

KL Dartboard by Key Lime 314

Price – $3.99
Device – iPad with iPhone or iPod touch

This is the first game that I know of that requires that you have both an iPad and an iPhone or an iPad touch in order to play it. It case you haven’t guessed, the iPad is the dartboard and the iPhone or touch acts as your darts. After you install the individual apps on each device, make sure you have Bluetooth turned on and then launch the app on the iPad. You’ll be greeted with a screen that will ask you to press the connect button.

Go start the app on your iPhone or touch and tap the connect button on your iPad. The two devices will find each other and once they do, you’re all set for a game of darts.

I’ve never played actual darts before, but I know what a dartboard looks like and as you can see from the image above, the iPad makes a nice one.

The image on your iPhone / touch looks like three darts. Either Green or White ones.

The way to play, is to hold the phone in your hand like a… dart. Take aim and then flick it – without letting go of course – at the dartboard…

If you are lucky and don’t miss, you’ll see an animated dart land on the board. It’s actually pretty cool the first couple of times that you try it. Then you realize that aiming and actually hitting the target is close to impossible. Also, what’s up with the fact that you can flick the dart with your back to the board and still hit it? Oops! For the most part, this app is just a fun way for iPhone and touch owners who also have an iPad, to demo it to their friends. A slightly expensive demo at that.

Drift Mania Championship by Ratrod Studio

Price – $.99
Device – iPad, iPhone or iPod touch

Drift Mania Championship is a fun racing game that will send your car sliding all over the race track. Or at least mine did.

You start out with one car that you can change to your favorite color.

Along with one car, you get one track to start. The Beginner’s track.

The graphics in this game are really nice. The background audio track is a rock song that might get monotonous after awhile, but luckily you can choose music from your own library.

Controlling your car looks deceptively easy. There’s a throttle on the right side of the screen and a hand brake on the left. Slide your finger up and down the trottle to go faster or slower and of course, you hold the iPad like a steering wheel to steer your car around the track. Easy right? Ummm… it’s not. I ended up off the track more than on for the first few times I played. After the third time or so, I started getting the hang of it, but I’m still no where near good. I’m not even past the beginner’s level.

For some reason, this game makes me feel dizzy when I play it. But it’s still a LOT of fun and you can’t go wrong with the 99 cent price tag. If you like racing games, you need to check this one out for sure.

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related, Reviews

Tagged: game, iPad, iPhone

App Spotlight – KL Dartboard and Drift Mania Championship for iPad originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 12, 2010 at 9:23 pm.

Did you have a Lite-Brite when you were growing up?  I didn’t, but I wanted one.  Here’s my chance to have one on my iPad (requires iOS 3.2 or later).  The Bright Bright app for iPad lets you draw pictures with little “pegs”.  You can use stencils or draw freehand, and you can save an incomplete picture and load it up to finish later.  Once your picture is complete, you “flip a switch” to make the picture glow.  There’s even a “Color Wave” option to change the peg colors “to bring your pictures to life.”  The app is $1.99 – a small price to pay to know you’ll never step on one of those little plastic pegs with your bare foot.

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related, News

Tagged: game, iPad app

Bright Bright App is a Virtual Lite-Brite Game for the iPad originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 10, 2010 at 3:02 pm.

The classic arcade fighting game Tekken is coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch!  Website Pocketgamer has claimed an anonymous source has tipped them to the upcoming classic’s arrival.

With the latest news that Capcom is to release Street Fighter IV on the devices, Namco has followed suit with the fighting rival.  The source hasn’t yet revealed whether the game is a brand new iPhone version or a touch-friendly edition of the PSP version of Tekken 6.

However, the game is rapidly approaching the end of development, so we should hopefully find out in the next few weeks just what flavour of Tekken we can expect!

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related, News

Tagged: game, iPhone, Tekken

Tekken coming to the iPhone originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 10, 2010 at 9:30 am.

BAIT from Mindless Goods is a game for the iPhone or iPod touch that doesn’t really fit into any specific gaming category. It’s not exactly a puzzle game and not really an arcade either. Actually, it’s not even that much of a game as far as I’m concerned. The idea is that you use your finger to lead your small school of fish around the screen to eat as many smaller ‘bait’ fish as you can in 20 seconds. 

Unfortunately, that’s pretty much the whole point of the game, which really keeps it from being … fun.

The only user customizable game options that you have are to turn off the sound effects.

The graphics are pretty cool, with lifelike shimmering water. The sound effects are nothing special though. There’s no music, just a bubbling water sound like you’d hear with an aquarium.

Using your finger you move the Orange and White fishes around the screen to eat the other little fishes. You have to eat as many fish as you can in 20 seconds. As you eat them, your time will be increased. Sometimes obstacles will appear on the display that you’ll have to route the fish around. But that’s pretty much it. I was bored with the game after my first round. Maybe it would be more fun if your fish had laser eyes that could shoot things. As is, save your buck for something a little more interesting.

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related, Reviews

Tagged: game, iPhone

Mindless Goods BAIT iPhone Game Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 12, 2010 at 4:52 pm.

I’m always on the lookout for a fun game for my iPhone that can give me a few minutes of entertainment. I prefer puzzle style games because they typically aren’t frantic. Who needs more stress in their life right? Arroic from Outlaw Games is sort of a cross between a pool game, coin collecting game and an accelerometer labyrinth game. The funny thing is that I didn’t like this game at all the first few times I tried it.

The object of the Arroic is to sink the ball into the target hole. Sounds easy, but it quickly becomes challenging due to different obstacles scattered over each level.

To get your ball from its starting point to the end point, you have to draw arrows that it will follow. This is where I got in trouble during my first attempts to play the game. I thought I needed to use the obstacles as bounce points get from one place another. This works, but it is hard to do and is not always required. If you look at the screen shots above, you’ll see the level that you start with and then the arrows that you can draw to get from the start to the finish. Each level has a preset number of arrows that you can use. After you draw them, you tap the Go button and the ball with follow the arrows. The longer the arrows, the faster the ball will roll.

You’ll also notice coins on each level. You can position your arrows so that the ball will hit the coins as it moves. When this happens, you will earn points and a higher score. The faster you complete a level will also earn you points. So, you can play the game for points, best time or just play to finish each level regardless of points or time. If you do get a high score, you can show off by posting it.

The game get’s tough quick when gooey obstacles are introduced that your ball will stick to as it comes in contact with them. You are allowed to shake the iPhone to help move the ball along. Watch out though,  you can only shake the device a few times per level.

The graphics and animations are good and game mechanics are smooth and easy to learn.  This game doesn’t have any background music, but the sound effects are pleasing.

The full version of Arroic has 61 levels and the lite (free) version has 6. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related, Reviews

Tagged: game, iPhone

Arroic iPhone Game Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 18, 2010 at 9:02 pm.

If you’re the type that likes to make people do your bidding as well as create your own virtual world then Sims 3 from EA Sports is for you. You even have the choice to make your character as nice or as sleazy as you want.

The Sims 3 for Android is the third installment in the Sims franchise. It has the same concept as the previous Sims 1 and 2.

Sims is a game in which a player controls the everyday activities of his or her player which they’ve created. Unlike traditional games where a player has a goal to attain Sims 3 doesn’t have a goal. Well, not necessarily. As in life you have to make sure your Sim doesn’t die from starvation, get electrocuted, or drown. I guess staying alive is a goal.

However, You have to try to keep up with onscreen pop-ups which help you direct or maneuver your Sim throughout the game.

You can create life-like Sims, or characters, from a various selection of traits and characteristics through the Create-A-Sim screen. Choose from personality traits to clothing to gender. I wish there were more selections of clothes and outfits. The presets they had seemed to be very generic. No graphics on the shirts just plain solid colors and patterns. I would like to have seen a little more customization in choosing outfits.

You can also design the surroundings of the Sims environment through the Create-A-Style feature.

The Sims 3 has a Wish system which has replaced the previous Sims’ Wants and Fears system. This challenge system helps contribute to the Lifetime Happiness Score which can be later used to purchase Lifetime Happiness Rewards.

In addition to the Wish system, The Sims has incorporated a Moodlet system. The Moodlets are simple activities for your Sim such as taking a shower, watching TV or taking a nap. I guess the makers at EA wanted to give the Sims characters some human attributes that occur in real life.

Many of the wishes are based upon your Sims personality traits that you create before you start playing. As you play the game there are tasks that you can choose to do or not do. If you accept the task  your Sim develops skills by completing them.

There is an optional feature included called Story Progression which allows the Sim characters to continue their everyday lives just as your character would like getting a job, getting married, have children, etc. It also features a living neighborhood. That is a feature that allows all characters to age at the same time.

Now, if you are gamer who likes action and fast paced challenges then this game may not be for you. The Sims is more of a role-playing game so it’s a kind of play as you go.

Although this is an Electronic Arts product,  The Sims 3 for Android download is only available at Handmark.com so it is not a Market app.

Filed in categories: Android related, Gaming Gear, Reviews

Tagged: Android, EA, game

The Sims 3 for Android Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 10, 2009 at 11:09 am.

Talk about a niche market. This application is designed for all the folks that:

.

1. Have an Android Phone
2. Play Fantasy Football
3. Have their league at MyFantasyLeague.com

Luckily all three of these apply to me, so I asked Julie to see if we could get a copy for review. What does that say about my cheapness that I didn’t just buy a $5 program? Well, to be fair, I have since purchased it. I think it shows real promise. But I am getting ahead of myself.

The application is designed to provide wireless access to your MyFantasyLeague football league with your Android. It displays your league standings, weekly score summaries and game details.

You start by entering your League ID in the application. If you use the windows-based application to track scoring, it is the same ID. You can also find it in the URL of your league in your browser.

The application also remembers the leagues you enter, so if you have multiple leagues you can select from a list rather than always remembering the ID.

After you enter your league ID you will see the Weekly Summary:

In this screen you see the scores of all the games for that week. The number in parenthesis is the player minutes remaining for a team. It highlights a team once they have won (highest score, no minutes left for the opposition). I would have liked the ability to tap on a game to see the details here. Update: Max has already added this feature in an update (he is the 2nd comment on this post). Now if he could just add a feature so that I pick all the right players…

To see the details of a game, you pick one of the teams from the drop-down list:

Once a player’s score is final, their line appears in bright white. You can also see the projected score for players that have not started. The application does show the total bench score of each team, but it would have been nice to see all the players on the bench. Perhaps as an option (I could see folks not wanting to waste time on loading that data).

The overall Standings displays all teams including division wins and losses and total points for and against. This is a nice view at the end of the season when you are going for that wild card slot. There is also an option to see standings by division.

Only issue with my league is that we have ties, and the standings do not include a column for ties.

Conclusion

I already gave it away at the beginning. I like this application. It makes a nice supplement to the other tools I use. It is certainly faster and easier than access the web sites mobile options. It is not perfect, I would like to see a slicker look, maybe some appropriate use of color. I look forward to seeing this further develop (though the Fantasy Football season is coming to an end). The developer also dropped the cost to $2, which is really hard to complain about.

Filed in categories: Android related, Reviews

Tagged: Android, fantasy football, game

MyFantasyLeague Tracker for Android Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 9, 2009 at 12:03 pm.

One of the powerful things about the Android, in my opinion, is the fact that you are not held captive by one way of getting applications for your phone. The Android Market is very convenient, but you can also go other routes to purchase and install applications.

One of the other sources is Handmark. They have been around for a while, and I recall purchasing from them back in my Palm days. If you go to their website, you can set what your phone is, and searches will then only display those applications that work with your phone.

They were nice enough to send along Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 for me to review.

By default, the Android restricts you from installing applications from any source other than the Android Market. This is a simple setting on you phone, and easy to change. You just need to go to Settings > Application and check mark the option Unknown sources.

When you purchase an application on Handmark’s site you are sent a link to download the application. If you download it from your phone, it automatically installs. You can also download to you computer and move it to the SD card of your phone. But if you do that, you have to use a free application on the Android Market called Apps Installer and install the application from your SD card. Here is a look at that screen:

I looked forward to testing this particular game because I have played Tiger Woods a lot on my Xbox (yes, I still have that old thing). I was curious as to how this game would translate to my phone.

First Impressions

The graphics are slick, for a cell phone. I really wish they would let you turn off the music, launching the application brings up a very annoying music riff. You can obviously use your volume control to silence it, but frankly I would prefer to turn it off in the options, but that is not available.

Main Menu

The main menu has a number of options.

On the first screen you can do a Quick Start which lets you play a quick 3 holes, Tournament which is 18 holes against computer opponents, Challenge which focuses on specific goals (like within 5-feet of pin), and Practice which lets you define Golfer, Course, Difficulty and Mode (number of holes).

The game tracks your accomplishments. Here are the results of my first tournament round:

They have great help screens that talks through all the options (available near the bottom of the main menu). Here are some examples of how the game play works.

This is the main screen. You can see an overhead shot of the hole to the right, a line of golf balls shows the direction, and the indicator in the center indicates how far below or above the hole you are. The bottom left indicates the club you are using. You can tap it to select a different club. The upper-left target icon changes the view to the target:

You can tap the golf balls to change the location of the aim, and tap the clubs in the upper-left to return to the regular view. You can also aim from the regular view by tapping the golfer and using the arrows there.

To swing tap the track ball to bring up the power bar. Hold down the track ball, and release it when the power bar gets to your desired strength:

While in flight you can put english on the ball:

And on the putting green you get a grid to help you aim:

You can also design your golfer, and view your record on the Extras menu option. I don’t have the latest gaming console, so therefore not the latest Tiger Woods, but if you complete a challenge on this application, you can actually send a Stat Boost to your player on Xbox 360 or Playstation 3.

This will not play on the Droid, it does not support the higher resolution screen, it also does not play in landscape view. Not sure how soon they will update to the Droid, but it worked fine on the Droid Eris.

I think the is a very nice implementation of Tiger Woods on a cell phone. If you like to play the occasional game on your phone, this is a keeper.

Filed in categories: Android related, Reviews

Tagged: game

Tiger Woods for Android Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 19, 2009 at 4:05 pm.

Although I almost never play video games on my desktop computer or even my lonely Xbox 360, I do find that I love playing games on my iPhone. I guess the reason why is because there are so many easy to play and good puzzle games to choose from. I think puzzles games are the best platform for the iPhone since the phone has no physical buttons. I find it hard to play arcade games with touch screen controls. Puzzle games on the other hand are made for the iPhone. The latest game to find a spot on my phone is Unicorn Multimedia’s ColorBuster.

This game is similar to the classic Sokoban games, where you move boxes around to their specified spots. ColorBuster updates that genre by making the main character a robot named Hect0r.

ColorBuster has 50 levels that can be played in either Classic or Arcade mode.

It’s Hect0r’s job to clean up an old space base by collecting all the working energy crates and eliminating the dead ones. If you look closely at the screen shot above, you’ll see onscreen control arrows. On the Left side of the screen there is an UP and Down button and on the bottom Right edge of the screen there is a Left and Right button. You use these buttons to move Hect0r around on the playing field.

You can also use swipe mode to move Hect0r around the screen. I prefer the arrow buttons…

Game play is super easy. Just shove all the like colored boxes together and then move them to the transport block to go on to the next level. You can also shove the boxes with the radiation symbol off the playing field to make it easier to move around.

The background music (which can be switched off if desired) is pretty catching and isn’t distracting or monotonous.

There are 50 different levels, and so far I’ve just made it through level 10 after installing the game this afternoon. I’ve found the first 10 levels to be pretty easy. Almost too easy. That said, I still have quite a ways to go, but from the reviews I’ve read of this game on the iTunes store, it gets pretty challenging.

This is the type of game that you can pick up anytime you have a few minutes and need to get a puzzle fix. From what I’ve played so far, it’s definitely worth the 99 cent price tag.

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related

Tagged: game, iPhone

ColorBuster iPhone Puzzle Game Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 9, 2009 at 5:24 pm.

CMO stands for Casual Multiplayer Online game. Yeah, who knew right? Faunasphere is a new game from Big Fish Games that you play through your browser. No special downloads are required and it’s completely free. The whole premise is that you’re on this world that’s been overrun by pollution. It’s your job to interact with the other players and clean it up. It’s a quirky cartoon world that’s fun to explore without having to worry about monsters sneaking up behind you to bite your head off. It’s Friday, the boss is probably off playing golf, so take a break and go check it out. 

Filed in categories: Uncategorized

Tagged: game, Gear Diary

You’ve heard of RPG and MMORPGs. But what about CMO games? originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 14, 2009 at 10:40 am.

Are you good at pattern matching puzzles? Do you like games that move at your pace, not the game designer’s pace? hExistentialism – the “Casual Puzzle Brain Game” by Ayumusoft might be for you. Just resist the urge to fling your iPhone into the wall while you’re figuring out how it works.I’ll admit it, I really enjoyed the phase in my child’s development when we used to play all those memory/matching games. hExistentialism plays right into that space, but it does so in a very unique, almost maddening complex way. This is a double edged sword – in my case I was really close to giving up on it until it “clicked” in my head and I started to grasp what they were trying to get me to do in the game. Now I see it as a game with real staying power – you’re less likely to get bored of the approach to “matching” used, that’s for sure!

Install and setup/tutorial

Like all iPhone/iPod Touch apps, you purchase hExistentialism in the App Store and then sync it onto your device, or it just appears there if you buy it on the device itself. Launch time is a reasonable 8 or so seconds while you stare at the company logo, and then you’re at the spartan main menu:

Going into the tutorial, you’re gently walked through the various ways three hexes are considered a match:

Game Play

Once you’re feeling confident, you can begin a game. Here’s one after a few moves:

“sum” is your score. I have no idea how its calculated, but it goes up as you remove more hexes. Apparently “inErtia” has something to do with your score – it’s the number of sets of three hex tiles you’ve removed correctly in a row. Make a mistake and it resets to zero. You may get more points for more difficult matches, but I’m not really sure! Tapping a tile selects it (shown with those yellow triangles) – tap it again to de-select it.  Tap three of the tiles and if they match, they disappear. If they don’t they just de-select.

The “mEnu” button goes back to the main menu – but keeps your game state intact if you change your mind. “nExt hEx”, if it’s not grayed out, adds the next hex tile onto the board if there is an open space for it. It also resets your inErtia.

Here we are a little further into the game, after a particularly satisfying run of matches (hence my inErtia of 5… yay me.)

Above you can see we are nearing the end of this game. There are no more hEx tiles available.  If I’m not mis-recalling there is only one match left… After I tapped it in, I got to this screen:

I have no idea if that’s a good score or not, but I was really happy to get here!

Impressions

hExistentialism is a seemingly simple, yet maddeningly additive game. The ability to combine the “types” of patterns/series into a three tile match gives you a lot of flexibility and variety when playing the game. I’m not sure my brain is any better off after playing it, but it sure passes the time.

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related

Tagged: game, iPhone, iPod Touch

hExistentialism iPhone/iPod Touch Game Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 3, 2009 at 8:07 am.

Ever wish you could compete in a track and field competition while waiting in line at the store, commuting, or otherwise sitting around like a blob? Grab your iPhone or iPod Touch, be sure to stretch first, and then load up “International Athletics” by Ghostlight Ltd.

This is a port of the Sony PSP game by the same company, but I’ve not played it on that device. I have to wonder how well it would play with the PSP controls – the touch-based interface is pretty easy to grasp and is physical enough thay you might be able to break a sweat. You’re sure to attract stares as you get into some of the events.

Install and setup

Purchase the game from iTunes, and sync, or purchase it on your device and it’s there. Launch the app, and after a few static images display to cover the 10 second or so loading time, you’re presented with the character setup screen:

I went with a bigger guy for the sprints:

Game Play

Once you’ve set up your profile it’s retained between games, so on future launches you go straight to the main menu:

You can get back to your profile and make other game settings changes, compete in a single event, try a decathlon or tournament (a series of events), or visit your metals room and bask in the glory of past achievements. Let’s try an event:

I’ve not been training much, so I go for the Rookie setting. Then I pick the event.

Wow, that’s a lot of menu choices. OK, so I am going to do a Track event, the 100m Sprint, in France. Phew, I’m exhausted already! Next up are the reminder screen(s) on how to move your guy. Yes, these come up every time.

Finally, after a brief progress bar, you get to the race itself.

The gun fires (yes, it uses a starter pistol sound – perhaps not the best sound for a subway ride, without headphones!) You rub your iPhone like a madman, and if needs be perform other taps or drags (hurdles are a bit tricky, but after plowing them down a few times you get the hang of it!) until you cross the finish line to the cheers of the crowd.

At the end, as you watch everyone gasp for breath, you see if you’ve beaten the world record or your personal best time.

Then the instant replay, and finally…

The medal presentation. Then you can decide to race again or go back to the main menu.

Impressions

It’s a very attractive game, with nice graphics and good sound effects. Tracking your personal best/world record scores is a nice touch, and gives you a reason to keep improving your skills beyond stuffing your trophy room with gold metals. I wonder if I’ll end up with “athlete’s finger” though! Actual game-play is brief, preceded and followed by menu selections and animations. In that way it really does model a track and field event well – lots of build up, a few seconds of action, and then lots of rehashing and analysis. There isn’t much to master in this game, so I’m not sure how much staying power it has. It’s unfortunate that’s true, since the graphics are so well done. Perhaps the ability to play head-to-head (rumored to be possible for games with the 3.0 OS) would allow for an interesting twist.

Filed in categories: Gaming Gear, iPhone, iPad, iPod related

Tagged: game, iPhone, iPod Touch

International Athletics iPhone/iPod Touch Game Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 30, 2009 at 7:47 am.

There are so many bubble popping and ball matching style games out there, that it’s difficult to get excited about a new one. That’s why I wasn’t all that enthused when the people from Howling Moon Software emailed to ask me if I would like to take a look at Crayon Ball for the iPhone / iPod Touch. But I said ok and here’s the scoop.

I was a little confused when I visited their website to see that the game is called ScriBall there. Not sure what prompted the name change in the app store…

The game launches pretty quickly and is ready to play in about 5 seconds. The opening screen is colorful, but simple. You can read a quick (very quick) how to play instruction page, read the about notes (which are lame), start the game or change the theme.

There are five theme choices. The cool art style is really the main draw of the game for me. It’s very cartoonish and colorful.

The game itself is super easy to play. The idea is to get at least four balls of the same color to touch. When they do, they will pop and clear from the screen. You can get them to touch by tapping on other balls that are in the way, or by using the accelerometer in the device, to roll the balls around.

When you pop a ball, it will cause the danger bar at the bottom of the screen to fill in. The more balls you tap, the more the bar fills. Once it fills all the way across the screen, the game is over. But, as matches are cleared, the bar shrinks.

There are also several special balls that appear from time to time. The how to play instructions don’t tell you what each one does though…

I have enjoyed playing this game, but I think that it needs some more pizazz to make it worth $2.99. The only sound effect that it has is the pop sound when balls are cleared. There’s no soundtrack in the background to keep the game flowing and interesting. It would also be nice if there were themes with different shapes instead of just balls. It almost feels like this is a lite version of a bigger / better game.

All in all, Crayon Ball is a fun and fresh approach to a game type that all of us have seen and played before. I look forward to trying updated versions with more features.

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related

Tagged: game, Software

Howling Moon Software’s Crayon Ball iPhone Game Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 10, 2009 at 9:26 am.

Have you heard about the new Mindflex game from Mattel that is due out this Fall? It’s a mental acuity game where you use your thoughts to move a ball through an obstacle course. I’ll admit that I’m pretty skeptical that this is real. That said, the videos make it look kind of fun. Maybe if I get this game and become really good at it, I can use my super brain moving powers to clean the house while I sit on my butt in front of the TV. Hmmmmm… Video clips after the jump.

Filed in categories: Geek Toys

Tagged: Brain, game, Spotlight Gadgets

Spotlight Gadget – Mattel’s Mindflex Game originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 14, 2009 at 10:36 am.

Judie Lipsett mentioned the original Insaniquarium in a 2003 article about Spring Break and what she was going to take. While brief, the comment points out how much fun the program is. Well, PopCap Game’s Insaniquairum Deluxe is better.

You may as well buy a wrist brace to wear on your stylus-slinging hand, because this game is going to push your tapping to the limits. Naturally, it starts off slow and innocent-like. You are managing a small aquarium with a couple of goldfish. You tap the screen and a bit of food appears and floats gently to the floor of the tank, unless one of the hungry fish eat it. Each bit of food costs you points, and unless you buy an upgrade you can only have one piece of food at a time. So far, so good- but it gets worse.

Game screen showing healthy fish, an easy to kill alien, and a snail that helps collect coins.

OK, the fish start ‘dropping’ money as they get older- first silver, then gold coins- that you have to tap on to collect or it evaporates away. You can use the money for upgrades, new fish, etc. Add new fishies for $100 each, and have more mouths to feed. If the fish is hungry it turns a sickly green and will eventually groan, die, and evaporate to background music. You can upgrade to a more nutritious food, or buy the ability to drop more than one pellet at a time. So far, so good- but it gets worse.

One of the options is a predatory fish that eats baby goldfish, so now you have to feed these guys (who drop diamonds) and work on keeping the older fish healthy. The more fish you have, the more coins are dropping, the more food you need, the more tapping is happening. So far, so good- but it gets worse.

Game screen with predators and a sickly fish.

There are aliens that transport in and try to eat the fish- both your $100 goldfish AND the $1000 predators (did I mention how much these things cost?) You can attack them with taps- tap at their feet and they move up, tap at their heads and they move down. Tap them enough and they die… in the earlier levels, at least. Oh, and not only do the aliens eat the fish, but while you are defending your aquarium, your fish are going hungry and the money is going untapped and evaporating. So far, so good- but it gets worse.

Worse, you say? How could it get worse? Well, at each level you buy pieces of an egg. 3 egg pieces gets you a new pet with super powers. At each level, the egg pieces cost more, too. The pets are awarded semi-randomly and include a momma fish that give birth to new goldfish, swordfish that help fight aliens, oysters that offer you pearls if you tap them in time, a seahorse that helps feed the tank, etc. You can only bring a limited number of pets with you to new levels. So far, so good- but it gets worse.

Egg-hatching screen showing a bonus tank helper.

Every so often, there is a bonus game, like the one shown below where you have to catch as many falling shells as possible.

At each level, you start over again with 2 baby goldfish and a few bucks for food. At each level the aliens get more numerous and harder to kill, the prices for eggs and other things go up, new pets and toys are available, and your tapping wrist gets sorer and sorer.

Whew. What a game. All of this for $14.95 (thanks in part to a new lower price policy at Astraware). It takes just under 3m of memory and runs smooth as silk on my Palm Centro- an occasional delay for laoding or pausing, but nothing special. Because of the game specs, it will not run on Palm Tungsten, T2, or Zire 71 PDAs. I appreciate the graphics and screen- even the combination of the small Centro screen and my old eyes don’t interfere with enjoying the game. This is also a game that appeals to a lot of age groups- younger kids may not get too far, but my kids usually surprized the heck out of me with their scores on the original version. Just FYI- it is considered a new game, not an upgrade- your Insaniquarium code will not work for it.

Filed in categories: Uncategorized

Tagged: Astraware, game, Palm, Palm OS related

Astraware’s Insaniquarium Deluxe – Palm OS Game Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 22, 2009 at 5:26 pm.